Biographies

Personality

One of the theater’s big sister figures; Minako is dedicated to looking after others and possesses a high endurance level, aiming to be of help whenever she can. Minako initially auditioned to become an idol alongside two of her close friends and dreamed of debuting together with them. However, Minako ended up being the only one to pass the audition and felt a great wave of guilt come over her, leading to her taking time to herself in order to think the offer over. Eventually her friends realised something was bothering her and upon hearing the truth, they told Minako that they would always support her and encouraged her to reach her dreams regardless. Minako sometimes still feels guilty over this event, especially when asked about who she was most looking forward to seeing at her live. While she knew her fans should be the ones she wants to give back to the most - her heart was dedicated to reaching her friends. After discussing her feelings with Nao, Minako is told by both Nao and her friends that they all just want to see their close friend be happy and smile more than anything because that’s what makes them happy too.

Before becoming an idol most of her time was dedicated to working at her family’s Chinese cuisine restaurant - known as “Satake Restaurant” - as both a waitress and sometimes even a chef. Minako loves to cook and is known for her ability to produce food in mass quantities. At first she attempted to hide this hobby of hers but after Arisa revealed it to the audience during one of their lives, she admits that it’s quite random but she loves seeing people happy thanks to her food. Due to her constant concerns over the health of her loved ones, she likes to make sure they’re all eating well and tries to ensure their calorie intake is more than sufficient. Minako believes that the bigger you are, the stronger you are and aims to make people happy and healthy by eating food she provides for them. She even burst in through the door out of nowhere with food in hand after hearing Shizuka mention that she’s on a diet. It’s common for Minako to use food as a means of restoring bonds and calming nerves. Nao even notes that it was thanks to Minako’s warm food and gentle smile that she felt welcomed and calm during her first meeting for the MILLION STARS. Hinata also reveals that Minako was the first person to reach out to her when she was alone and nervous during her first time at the theater. She even tells the audience she wishes that Minako was her real big sister because of how warm and kind she is to everyone she meets.

Minako’s natural tendency to look after others and to prioritise their needs over her own actually leads to her becoming fidgety when she’s the one being tended to instead. This is evident when she struggled sitting still during her first promotional photo shoot because of all the attention she was being given from the hair and makeup teams. She is often the one that will try to solve others’ problems and comes to the rescue anytime someone can’t calm down, making sure to wipe their tears away. However, Minako is also very protective in nature and can get very worked up if she thinks her loved ones are in danger and can sometimes begin to lecture them about their safety. She does apologise after things have calmed down though, especially if she raised her voice or felt she was overly strict.

Minako also loves to play fighting games and is known to be very good at them, especially when playing as a grappler style fighter - even rivalling the likes of Anna. She also claimed that one day she’d love to have a live on a sumo wrestling stage. Minako was even given the Strength card as her tarot card which is often linked to courage and compassion. Not only does she care immensely for her friends and family, but she also tends to animals a lot too. However, she once ended up making a lion run away from her because of how much she clinged to it and swooned over how fluffy and cuddly it was. Minako is also one of the few characters that openly expresses romantic interests in the Producer and will sometimes even talk as if they’re in a relationship already. She even came up with a list of restaurants she wanted to test out and set them up in a date schedule before too.

Trivia and Fan Culture

Trivia

Is actually rather self conscious about her weight; Arisa reveals that Minako’s data has her weight listed as “idol weight” rather than “weight” but Minako assures she isn’t lying.

As depicted in some of her cards, she is afraid of the dark.

Similar to Nao Yokoyama, she has a tendency to say “wahhoi” when happy or excited while Nao says “wasshoi”.

Minako isn’t great with bugs and is terrified of worms especially, so much so that Iku ended up taking over for her during fishing as Minako struggled handling them.

Extremely close to Nao and is often displayed as a duo with her due to Nao’s status as a harapeko and Minako’s ability to produce lots of food. The two are also in a unit together known as “Double Ace” in the “Blooming Clover” manga.

Subaru explained to Nao that “Double Ace” is a baseball term meaning two aces together. Nao is good at livening things up while Minako takes good care of others. The two of them as aces is what makes their unit a double ace.

Fan Culture

Minako's personality has lead to her being popularly depicted as a yandere in fanworks (to the point she was chosen by fans to play the main character's best friend in the horror drama section of THE IDOLM@STER THE@TER ACTIVITIES 03), but it's not canon.

Interestingly, this popular interpretation has received some nods from Million Live staff, such as her being cast as a ghost in the haunted house event re-run. However, it was just an act, and she was noticeably frightened when the event was over.